Flexible electrical connectors are widely used in the electronics industry. These flexible electrical connectors comprise a plurality of closely-spaced electrical conductor elements (or traces) suitably mounted on an elastomeric core. Typically, the traces are approximately three mils wide and are on seven mils centers (four mils spacing) for relatively high circuit density in sophisticated electronic equipment for industrial and commercial markets, as well as in various consumer products. A complete line of high-quality flexible electrical connectors are marketed by AMP Incorporated of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, under its registered trademark "AMPLIFLEX".
The flexible electrical connector (or connectors) may be suitably mounted in a connector housing and, in a typical example, the connector housing is mounted on a printed circuit board (such as a mother board) for electrical engagement with circuit elements or pads carried by a daughter board. The daughter board, for example, may be part of a computer intended to be inserted into a docking station, and the docking station may be part of a computer terminal for slidably receiving a lap-top computer.
It is important that the daughter board be received within the mother board with a substantially zero insertion force, so that the circuit elements or pads on the daughter board (or an edge of the daughter board) will not inadvertently damage the circuit traces on the flexible electrical connector on the mother board.